This year I grew some super hot chillies (chocolate bhut jolokia, Trinidad 7-pot, Trinidad scorpion and nagas). Because they are so hot I dried them out in the oven and powdered them in the spice grinder/coffee grinder. {{cough}}

I am thinking of combining all of the super hot powders together to create an a super hot chilli powder that I will use in very small amounts to get the desired heat in the food that I cook. Do you think this chilli powder would work in Indian food? Thinking on that when a recipe says to use 1 teaspoon of chilli powder I would probably just need a pinch of this stuff to get the same heat. I know that Chinense peppers have a distinct fruity flavour that doesn't really sit well with Indian food, but I would only be using it in very small amounts so I don't know if the flavour would be that much of a concern.

With a bit of luck this stuff will last me for a few years. I had over 150 chocolate bhut jolokia pods and quite a few of the others I mentioned above. If I mixed all of the powders together there would be about a teacup amount.

Psycho Sid with a lung full of chilli powder.

It should work but don't forget chilli also gives a flavour to food, so if you only put a pinch in, you'll get the heat but very little flavour...

Steve

Hello sid

Personally, I do not cook very hot food, just don't like it. When I give an amount, it is for the average chilli powder you get from Indian grocers. Unfortunately, they generally do no have any names. If you are lucky, you get a label of mild, medium or hot I tend to use medium hot one. A pinch will be a good (!!!) start.

You are very brave to grind chillies yourself at home. In old days, when there were no pre-packed chilli powders produced by automated factories, my mum used to have them ground at home. The guys who did this in a large, cast iron mortar and pestle, used to tie a scarf all over their head and face, with a tiny bit open around the eyes. They also covered their hands with large squares of clothes. Even then, it was hard for them.

Mamta, when I grind the hot chillies I tie a cloth over my nose and mouth and I wear gloves. I've had one or two painful mishaps with the super hot chillies.

Steve, the thought had crossed my mind to be honest. One teaspoon of this in anything and I'd suddenly become very unpopular.

Hi Sid i am also a Naga fan, but were your chilles successful in the greenhouse especially the Naga? I am going to try it next year. I love a little bit of chillies in my curries but too much camoflages the taste of the curry.

Recently i bought a bangladeshi NAga chilli pickle called as MR NAGA, obviously it is hot but it has a wonderful taste as well...Try it!!!!!

Raj, yes they were all successful, but I grew them in a porch and not in a greenhouse. I watered them with rain water instead of tap water and I had a very good crop this year. The freezer is jam packed with all kinds of chillies. I already have over 50 different varieties to grow next year. I can't wait.

I agree with you that too much chilli masks the flavour of other stuff. I can eat really hot food but I don't tend to make my food all that hot. I'm not overly fussy on the flavour of the 7-pot chillies, but I love the nagas, scorpions and bhut jolokia flavours. My favourites though are the habanero peppers...especially the orange habanero and the Caribbean red habanero.

the flavour of the 'chinense' chillies, (nothing to do with China, cf dal chini) when fresh, don't go with Indian food, IMHO. When dry, I suspect the fruity flavour would not be too apparent and so useable.

I don't use chilli powder, but use fresh chilles, which also have a lovely flavour, a bit like licorice.

50 species!!!!....you must be yo yo about chilles Sid. Rain water used?? ....very interesting !!! any reasons why??. Where you the one with a blog with photographs of potted chilli plants,,,,.....if yes, send me the link.

I now have half a coffee jar of chocolate bhut jolokia powder and I have just made a chicken curry and I put 1/8 teaspoon in and it was just nice. I can't taste the chinense flavour so yeah, it works! I think I have enough chilli powder to last me over a year...so worth it in the end.

Lapis, I don't buy chilli powder any more either. Come to think of it I don't buy chillies because I grow enough to last me a year or more.

Raj, growing chillies is a bit of a hobby and I am interested in all of the different varieties, and I like eating them! I find that things grow better with rain water, no other reason. No I didn't have a blog, but I intend to set one up next year. I will send you the link once it is up and running. I am growing quite a few Indian varieties next year.

Sid

just to be pedantic, there are not 50 species, but 50 varieties. There are only 5 species of chilli under cultivation, and only two in India, if one doesn't include the 'Naga' varieties, which, to my mind, was someone (or the Indian Army) trying to cultivate a habanero/scotch bonnet.

In India, there are between 250 - 300 varieties of chillies grown, about thirty are old types, another 30 are cultivars and cross bred, and the rest are experimental, including one which was grown from seed placed in a nuclear reactor for gene alteration. [GM indeed!]

including one which was grown from seed placed in a nuclear reactor for gene alteration. [GM indeed!]

LOL...which variety did they do that with?

can't remember, Sid, that info is on my poorly computer, but it is a quite well known hybrid. Maybe it glows in the dark!

I was wondering why some of the super hots glowed in the dark, thanks, Lapis! You're a star.

Did the chillies glow in the dark or the person who ate them sid? LOL!

I think glow in the dark chillies will be a nice addition for Christmas. Someone was telling me that chilli is used in some muscle rub creams...and I have been in agony for the last couple of days with my shoulder...now...where did I put those 7-pots. It could get decidedly worse from here on in.

Well, Capsaicin cream is made commercially and used for pain relief I hear, so you are not far wrong. I can imagine you going around with a chilli paste poultice though, jumping up and down!! LOL!

:o) The chilli powder I made a few days ago is so potent that I only have to take the lid off the jar and I start sneezing. The powder of evil! Once you unscrew the lid you sell your soul to the devil.

On a slightly different note, and this might sound like an odd question, but has anyone noticed that some kitchen roll and toilet roll has a capsicum chinense type of aroma to it?

Sid

Toilet rolls with chinese chilli aroma??...............Must be a good quality ones you are using Sid. But in my case i have always wondered what those brown bits are in the recycled toilet tissue rolls. :D

chinense (note spelling) chillies are so-called because they are supposed to resemble Chinese lanterns, not because they are Chinese. ;?)

Of course Chinense.....in my exitment i didn't see it ;). Reminds me of "Rosa Chinensis" but with a different spelling.